Kouta: Poetic Forms
Poetic Form Fridays are made to share various poetic forms. This week, we look at the kouta, a Japanese quatrain (or 4-line) form.
Poetic Form Fridays are made to share various poetic forms. This week, we look at the kouta, a Japanese quatrain (or 4-line) form.
Kouta Poems
The only poetic mention of kouta I've found (online or in print) is in Robin Skelton's The Shapes of Our Singing, though I did find a post on Japan Info that claims it was a traditional song of geisha. Both sources also interpret the word kouta as meaning "little song." Skelton provides two variations of these little songs.
Kouta (Version 1): quatrain (or 4 lines) with the following syllable count per line: 7575
Kouta (Version 2): quatrain with the following syllable count: 7775
No other rules regarding rhymes, seasonal words, subject matter, etc.
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Here’s my attempt at a kouta:
Doe, by Robert Lee Brewer
She walked across dew-soaked grass
along with two fawns
but never looked as it passed
traffic in the dawn.
And here's the second variation:
Doe, by Robert Lee Brewer
She walked across dew-soaked grass
along with two spotted fawns
but never looked as it passed
traffic in the dawn.
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
